Bedtime Rhymes; Counting Rhymes

A racially mixed group of toddlers bound through the pages of Bedtime Rhymes, illustrating an assortment of verses - some well-known, others variants on the theme. Thompson's appealing artwork is achieved with an exuberant water colour wash.

The same children appear in Counting Rhymes - confusingly the rhyme about 'Five little peas' features seven of them, nattily attired in peapod suits, and it takes a bit of working out to see how they are being used to illustrate the rhyme.

Layout is the major problem here: rhymes follow closely one upon another with little to tell the reader that one has finished and another begun. Not enough space is given to the illustrations for some of the rhymes - essential particularly in the counting rhymes where confusion is too easy. The book's usefulness is considerably diminished as a result.